News and AnalysIs for

Press reports say that a formal bilateral cease fire is getting very close, while the United Nations is contemplating a role as an outside observer of the cease fire and laying down of arms. The request is the fruit of an agreement on the mechanism to be used that was signed this week.

Eye on EcopetrolEither Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) CEO Juan Carlos Echeverry is ‘sandbagging’ his board or the NOC is preparing for some steep production declines in 2016. Otherwise, our calculations make it hard to explain a 755 mboed production target.

Gran Tierra Energy (TSX:GTE) has announced its 2016 investment plan which it says will give it flexibility in allocating capital to projects and better weather the volatility in oil prices. The firm says that it wants to both grow and expand on its assets in Colombia.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC), through its laboratories with the Colombian Petroleum Institute (ICP) is launching a study of Bogotá’s air quality, while the Senate has voted to protect wetlands and high mountain tundra. These and other environmental stories in our periodic summary.

USO affiliated workers at the Barrancabermeja have put up the greatest resistance to Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) cost cutting measures, with a continued run of protests and blockades affecting the area since mid-December. An unstructured dialogue continues for now.

Pacific E&P (TSX:PRE) CEO Ronald Pantin gave his first interview since the firm’s stock took a beating last week due to liquidity concerns which forced it to take an extension on interest payments. The executive insists that the firm remains on solid footing despite the upheavals.

Ecopetrol has unveiled a number of different road and small infrastructure projects, as well as a “bio-health park” and aqueduct. These and other Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) related stories in our periodic summary.

We have not published our ‘Fracker Tracker’ since early December when news of ExxonMobil’s (NYSE:XOM) application for permission to frack and the signing of an unconventional contract with ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) and Canacol (TSX:CNE) had pushed positive press reports to heights not seen for some time. However, this positive press has melted away as the graph shows.

The National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) held a rendition of accounts at the end of 2015 and highlighted the actions of the authorities to adapt to the mounting challenges facing the industry. For 2016 though, its president Mauricio De la Mora said he expects things to be tough and that this is now the new normal.

Although the country managed to finish above 1mmbd for the year, the second half was not as sparkling as was expected considering first half performance. Oil prices continue to slide and so shut-in fields are a possible explanation.